International trade agreements force the U.S. and other participting countries to "harmonize" food and envrironmental safety standards to the lowest common denominator. Often these agreements are negotiated behind closed doors, shutting out Congress and the public, while granting corporations and trade associations a seat at the table. It's no surprise that these agreements give transnational corporations "special rights", allowing companies to challenge individual countries' environmental, worker and food safety laws and regulations.

We are on week three of what has been hinted at being a 12 week long media blitz attacking Planned Parenthood, and GOP politicians have been responding beautifully to the prompts provided to them by the anti-abortion movement. What has in the past simply been an annual (failed) push to defund the reproductive health care provider has instead turned into a frenzy of investigations across the country, led by some of the most anti-abortion, anti-birth control legislators in the country.

As the anti-abortion group "Center for Medical Progress" releases yet another new (and this time

Zapatista women lead a funeral procession for a woman killed by Mexico's federal police in Chiapas, Mexico, in January 2005. (Photo: Oriana Eliçabe/Flickr)

After centuries of oppression, a few indigenous voices of dissent in Chiapas, Mexico, rose up to became a force of thousands - the Zapatistas. Hilary Klein's Compañeras relays the stories of the Zapatista women who have overcome hardship to strengthen their communities and build a movement with global influence.

The following excerpt is from the introduction to Compañeras: Zapatista Women's Stories:

After visiting us several times, they began to explain the struggle: what they were fighting for and whom they were fighting against.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is in a better position than anyone to stop H.R. 1599, Monsanto's bill to prevent states and the FDA from requiring food manufacturers to label the GMOs in their products.

We know Sen. Sanders supports labeling. But now that the House has passed H.R. 1599, we need Bernie to speak out loudly and often, in public, about this pro-industry, anti-consumer bill. We need him to tell the mass media, and his fellow Senators, that legislation to preempt mandatory labeling of GMOs is unconstitutional, and must be stopped.

On behalf of the Organic Consumers Association, which represents more than one million Americans, I ask that you take the lead in protecting the right of consumers to know if their food contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs) by issuing a public statement opposing H.R. 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act, and by urging your fellow Senators to oppose a Senate version of this bill

On July 23 (2015), the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1599, a bill written by the biotech and processed food industries that preempts states’ rights to pass laws requiring the mandatory labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and would prevent passage of a federal mandatory GMO labeling law.

The House vote was 275 -150. The “yay” voters received $29.9 million in contributions from the agribusiness and food industries during the 2014 cycle, according to a report by Open Secrets, a project of the Center for Responsive Politics.

Of all the arguments the Democratic establishment has thrown out against Bernie Sanders' candidacy, perhaps the most recurring one revolves around electability. “Sure, you agree with him,” they argue, “but he can't win.”

A just released CNN poll finds Sanders out-polling all of the GOP's major candidates, though pretty much tied with Jeb Bush.

Today, 275 members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of H.R. 1599, the DARK (Deny Americans the Right to Know) Act. By voting for the DARK Act, these politicians voted against truth and transparency, against science, against the more than century-old right of states to legislate on matters relating to food safety and labeling.

They voted against the 90-percent of Americans who are in favor of mandatory labeling of GMOs. They voted against the producers of non-GMO foods.

This week, the House of Representatives will vote on the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015 (HR 1599). This legislation pre-empts state laws regarding labeling of foods containing Genitally Modified Organisms (GMO). Instead, the bill gives new powers to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-- yes That FDA-- to define what is and is not a GMO food. It also gives the Department of Agriculture power to approve labeling a food "non-GMO."

Whatever your views on GMOs, there is no Constitutional justification for the federal goverment to preempt state laws in this area. There

Passage of HR 1599 by the House Sparks Outrage, Triggers National Grassroots Lobbying Campaign to Stop the Bill

FINLAND, Minn. – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1599, commonly known as the “DARK Act” (Deny Americans the Right to Know), a bill falsely represented by its sponsors as providing “certainty” and “clarity” for controversial genetically engineered foods, In fact, the legislation’s intent is to permanently preserve the right of food manufacturers to deceive consumers.

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